Ludmila Hlavac "Ata" Munroe

Ludmila Hlavac "Ata" Munroe, 88, a longtime Moberly fixture, passed away quietly in her sleep on Saturday, October 26, 2013, at Riverdell Care Center in Boonville where she was a resident.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, she immigrated to this country in 1946, her sole possessions a suitcase full of thread bare clothes, $20 and a fierce intellect.

She received her B.A. from the University of West Virginia in Morgantown and graduate degrees in English and comparative literature from the then State University of Iowa in Iowa City before moving to Moberly in 1963 to teach at MACC.

Known for her prickly personality and strong opinions, both of which could border on the unbearable, one must say that she was never boring and made all of our lives that much more interesting. In her later years, her eccentricities came more to the foreground; but even with that, her pluses far outweighed her minuses. She is fondly and vividly remembered by her many students and all who knew her.

Her brother, Jan Hlavac, also a refugee from Prague and Moberly resident, preceded her in death.

She is survived by two sons, Jan Munroe of Los Angeles and Richard "Dick" Munroe of Belmont, MA; her sister-in-law, Sasha Hlavac of Moberly; her nieces, Suzanne Hlavac McGarvey of Moberly and Lucy Hlavac Schrader of Columbia; and two nephews, Jara and Honzik Hlavac of Prague, Czech Republic.